Last-ditch talks bid to salvage pay deal

LAST-DITCH talks were due to continue today in an attempt to salvage fading hopes of a new national wage agreement.

Prospects for agreement improved slightly last night after unions and employers agreed to attempt further negotiations, but the two sides also warned the gap between their positions remained extremely wide.

The groups met separately in Government Buildings for four hours from mid-afternoon yesterday where the secretary general at the Department of the Taoiseach, Dermot McCarthy, and his officials acted as intermediaries.